Female Thor (Thor Girl): Don’t Believe The Hype | Beyond Pictures

Marvel’s Thor is now female in a swift marketing move. And naturally, the news has leapt on the headline. But with Thor the Dark World through theatre’s and Guardians of the Galaxy eclipsing most Marvel news, does this actually change anything? B-mask quickly examines change in comic books and whether or not it actually amounts to anything.

Last month, Marvel Comics made headlines with their “shocking” announcement that legendary comic book hero Thor will now be a woman. Well, not really. Because the original Thor is still around, and it’s actually kind of confusing when you think about it. But! This didn’t stop certain news sources describing such a change of the status quo as “earth-shattering” and even going as far as proclaiming that Marvel is entering a bold new era free prejudice and underrepresentation. Basically: “#Misogyny cured!”

But is that really the case? B-Mask of Cheshire Cat Studios takes an objective look at the matter and expounds why this isn’t really anything we haven’t seen the company do before. Multiple times, in fact. As the title of this video suggests, don’t believe the hype, kids!

So headlines got grabbed a few weeks ago when Marvel unveiled their latest story- Thor was now a woman. Instantly we saw people on two sides of the divide- people that were calling this the coming of a new era, and those complaining that this was a terrible move serving only to pander. There were also people like me who bought Superior Foes of Spider man

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So let’s be honest with each other. Let’s be as open as possible.

Hands up who cares about Thor. Be honest with me now- before the movies, how much did you really care about Thor? In fact for some of you the movies probably have actually had a detrimental effect. I know they sorta did for me.

The Thor movies have brought the franchise a lot of extra attention. And who do you think makes up the bulk of that extra attention? I’d be overgeneralising if I said girls and you’d be very pedantic in the comments, so i’m going to say ‘people who are attracted to this’. And the evidence is staggering.

And with the current social climate, what better way to cater to those new fans than to give them a role model that isn’t a side character, but a reflection of its readership? This is marketing 101, people. And that’s really the root of this whole issue.

Let’s start by saying there’s nothing wrong with this at all- Marvel has always shaken up its roster and provided us with interpretations that differ from their originals. The baggage these characters bring with them bring interesting new ideas to the table and, as with this idea, can encourage or reflect the views of the changing readership. However that also means that this isn’t earth shattering.

We’ve had Valkyrie, Thor Girl, wonder woman thor, frog Thor, Destroyer Thor and cybernetic horse corpse thor. We’ve had a female Loki. Iron Man was Rhodey and Issiah Bradley was Captain America. Sam Wilson will be cap but so was Bucky. The Hulk has been like 50 shades (including grey.) and his cousin She Hulk has been a successful solo hero and lawyer And never ever forget- Captain Mar vell was replaced by captain Marvel! And captain Marvel, and Captain marvel and shit stop STOP

And sure, we can say this is just for new fans- but the only thing that’s going to change for them is the sheer saturation of comic book material they’ll get to experience. We’re upping the numbers, not changing the game.

You know why we always end up with some of the old favourites? Why this is a lady Thor? Because, by and large, that’s what people were fundamentally drawn to, and we just keep buying into it. You it’s always hard to turn the critical spotlight onto ourselves. We don’t want to see Marvel present us with a new female Superhero- we want to see them present us with a new Female Thor. I sort of made this point in my Frozen video- people like the superficial nature of change- but ultimately that’s all they want. They don’t want it to stray too far from the brand, from what they’re already comfortable with. And it’s hard because I know it sounds like an out and out criticism. If you’re willing to believe me- it’s not. It’s a call for a little self awareness.

Know that the media is never ultimately out to validate you. You don’t need the media to validate you though it will make you think so- but in the end the media will most certainly end up validating itself.

So let’s call this what it is. Not bold, or amazing, or world breaking, earth shattering. It’s different. And different is fine. I hope, of course, that in this case, different is good. Cause Thor is really fucking dull…

B-Mask was not always a purveyor of animation. Having credentials ranging from frog slinger to hash seller, he has experienced life to its fullest extreme from under his tiny rock. He hosts the series known as Beyond Pictures which aims to look beneath the surface of works- understandably difficult in this day and age.

Cheshire Cat Studios is the home of what we hope is a mix of artistic integrity and dry humor. We share a passion for movies, games and other mediums but are looking to spread our reach into more original content in the future: investigative videos, satirical comedies, and animated podcasts. We like to think that we approach topics with a down to earth, analytical viewpoint and don’t play favorites.